CTV.ca News Staff

Canadian businessman Maurice Strong has lost his job as top UN envoy for North Korea amid investigations into his link to a suspect in the UN oil-for-food scandal.

Strong has not been accused of any wrongdoing but was questioned by investigators about his links to South Korean lobbyist Tongsun Park, who has been accused by federal prosecutors of bribing UN officials with Iraqi funds.

"His contract expired last Thursday and was not renewed," UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Monday.

"If he is cleared of any involvement in the oil-for-food program, the secretary-general will consider availing himself of his expertise on an informal basis."

Strong also broke United Nations rules by putting his stepdaughter on his diplomatic payroll, the UN says.

Kristina Mayo worked as her stepfather's UN assistant for two years before she resigned April 21, 2005, after the international organization learned about the family relationship.

UN staff regulations in most cases prohibit the hiring of immediate family members.

No one at Strong's office in Ottawa has so far been available to comment.

Strong, who had been the UN point man on six-country talks aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programs, took temporary leave from his post on April 20 during a probe of his ties to Tongsun Park.

Park, a native of North Korea and citizen of South Korea, was charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office in April with allegedly accepting millions of dollars from Saddam Hussein's government to lobby illegally for Iraq in the United States on behalf of the oil-for-food program, which allowed Iraq to sell oil while it was under UN sanctions between 1996 and 2003.

He was also accused in the 1970s of trying to buy influence in the U.S. Congress.

Strong said Park had advised him on Korean issues but denied any involvement and has not been implicated in the $64-billion US humanitarian program in Iraq. He pledged to co-operate with an oil-for-food probe led by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker.

Prosecutors contend Park met with an unnamed UN official in an apparent effort to influence the design of the oil-for-food program, and invested $1 million in a company run by that official's son.

Strong has acknowledged that Park invested money in Cordex Petroleums, a Calgary oil company that was run by Strong's son Frederick.

Strong had been involved in UN environment and development issues since 1970, and in January 1997, was appointed a senior adviser to Annan on reforming the United Nations.

He was also a former adviser to the president of the World Bank and has led several power companies in Canada, including Petro-Canada, Ontario Hydro and Power Corp.